UCA Psi Chi earns award

Chapter recognized as a role model

Posted: March 27, 2013 - 7:13am

SPECIAL TO THE LOG CABIN

A local group at the University of Central Arkansas earned an award recognizing them as a role model for their efforts over a five-year period.

The UCA Chapter of Psi Chi, the International Honor Society in Psychology, is the 2012-2013 winner of the Ruth Hubbard Cousins Chapter Award, an award that comes with $3,500, according to a news release.

The award will be presented at the Psi Chi-American Psychological Association National Convention in Honolulu in August.

“We are extremely proud of the hard work and dedication from our faculty advisors and student leaders. We are honored to be the recipient of the 2012-13 Ruth Hubbard Cousins Chapter Award,” said Laura B. Horton, UCA Psi Chi chapter president, in a news release. “Over the years, our chapter has experienced a steady increase in membership, and our faculty and students have received numerous national grants and awards.”

The UCA Psi Chi chapter was founded in 1970 and has inducted 773 members. Minimum qualifications for membership include completion of at least three psychology courses and a cumulative and psychology grade point average of at least 3.0. The member must also have a grade point average in the top 35 percent of the candidate’s class.

The Ruth Hubbard Cousins award goes annually to the one chapter that best accomplishes Psi Chi’s mission. That mision includes “encouraging, stimulating and maintaining excellence in scholarship and advancing the science of psychology,” according to the group’s website.

The award recognizes the chapter’s accomplishments over the past five years, which include five consecutive Model Chapter awards, a Regional Chapter award, a Regional Advisor Award and more than $30,000 in grants, fellowships and awards to undergraduate and graduate members.

The Ruth Hubbard award means the chapter gets money and a plaque with the chapter’s name, advisor’s name and chapter president’s name. The award also gives the chapter travel expenses for one chapter officer to attend the convention to receive the award and make a presentation on “how to become a successful Psi Chi chapter,” according to the website and news release.

“This award is a well-deserved acknowledgment of the hard work and dedication of UCA Psi Chi members,” said J. Arthur Gillaspy, Department of Psychology and Counseling chairman in a news release.

For more information about membership or the UCA Psi Chi chapter, contact Shawn Charlton, associate professor of psychology, at 450-5415 or scharlton@uca.edu.